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WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration will continue airdropping aid into Gaza after Hamas called for them to stop because people drowned trying to reach crates in the water.
Hamas said that 18 people died, including 12 who drowned, trying to reach supply drops on Monday.
Between March 2 and Tuesday, the Pentagon said it has conducted 17 airdrops to deliver more than 470,000 meals and more than 8 tons of food into the Gaza Strip, which is now on the verge of famine as conflict between Israel and Hamas continues.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh the crates are released over the ocean and then parachutes are deployed, letting them drift to land. She said three of the 80 crates dropped on Monday had “parachute malfunctions” and landed in the water.
Singh couldn’t confirm if the Palestinians who died were trying to reach U.S. supplies or aid dropped by other countries.
“These airdrops are an expedient means to deliver critical aid to Gaza,” Singh said.
The airdrops have continued as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate because of the slow flow of aid. Israel has limited border crossings as it continues its war against Hamas since the latter’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, warned earlier this month that famine is imminent in northern Gaza.
Five people were killed when aid crates fell on them earlier this month and, although military officials said five crates had malfunctioned, the Pentagon said those crates didn’t land on anyone.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said the reports highlight the need for Israel to allow more deliveries into Gaza over land.
“It’s not just a tragedy that those … individuals died trying to get aid. It’s a tragedy that they felt so desperate that they had to swim out in the ocean to try to retrieve it in the first place,” he said. “No one should have to do that.”
Miller said there’s been a “modest” increase in the flow of humanitarian aid in recent weeks, but it’s not nearly enough.
“No one should have to put themselves at risk to get food and water and medicine for their families,” he said. “It should just be there for them and that is what we are trying to accomplish through the work that we are doing to provide humanitarian assistance.”
Miller also pointed the finger at Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks and its role in the flow of humanitarian aid.
“This is not a simple, one-faceted problem,” he said. “Anyone that says Hamas doesn’t also bear some responsibility in the tragic situation and the inability of aid to get into [Gaza] is ignoring the reality on the ground.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been in Washington this week and top Biden administration officials stressed the need for more aid to flow.
“Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe, and the situation is getting even worse and we need immediate increases in assistance to avert famine,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday before his meeting with Gallant. “Our work to open a temporary humanitarian corridor by sea will help, but the key is still expanding aid deliveries by land.”
In an event in North Carolina on Tuesday, President Joe Biden was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors who demanded a cease-fire.
“They have a point,” Biden said. “We need to get a lot more care into Gaza.”
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